Pro-Republican cartoonists made much of the Democratic ticket's conflicting
views on monetary policy. In this cover illustration, Thomas Nast plays off a
pun on vice-presidential nominee Thomas Hendricks' name to show presidential
nominee Samuel Tilden as a henpecked husband. The artist wants the public to
believe that, if elected, Hendricks and the soft-money wing of the Democratic
party will keep Tilden's hard-money inclinations in check. At Hendricks'
command, an anxious, sweating Tilden nurtures the Rag Baby symbol of inflation
so that it will continue to grow.